Impressive -- Prequel to The One
by burkygirl
Summary: A little flashback that forms part of my head cannon for The One universe. This drabble was written in in response to a first line prompt from xerxia31: "Well that's the single most impressive thing I've ever seen someone do."
_A little flashback that forms part of my head cannon for The One universe. This drabble was written in in response to a first line prompt from xerxia31: "Well that's the single most impressive thing I've ever seen someone do."_

"Well that's the single most impressive thing I've ever seen someone do," Peeta said as he looked down at Katniss, who was still on her knees.

The lock clicked, and with a quick turn of the knob, Katniss swung the door to Seneca Crane's office open. Shoving the twisted hairpin she'd used to unlock the door into her pocket, she stood and dusted off her knees. She looked at Peeta and shrugged. "I didn't expect it to be that easy. I should have known Seneca was too cheap and lazy to put a decent lock on his door."

Peeta followed Katniss into her soon-to-be-former boss's office at Crane & Heavensbee, one of the leading public relations firms in the city.

"Don't touch anything," she warned him. "I told you I don't want you involved in this."

Peeta frowned in annoyance. "You're my best friend. We live together and you're quitting over whatever this is about. So, I'm already involved, even if you won't tell me why we're breaking and entering." Peeta walked over to a filing cabinet and pulled it open. "What are you looking for again?" He turned around to see Katniss on her hands and knees again, this time in front of a drawer in Crane's desk.

She pulled another pin out of her braid. "It won't be over there. It'll be over here in his personal stuff."

Peeta's eyebrows drew together. "Katniss, what is going on?"

Katniss hairpin in her mouth as she inspected the drawer. "Thek-thoo-al we-wass-ment." She took the pin out of her mouth and twisted it open. Peeta crouched beside her, his blood beginning to boil.

"Did you say what I think you said?" Katniss's attention was purposely focused on the lock. He placed his hand over it. "Katniss?"

She sighed. "Seneca's a pig. He makes lewd comments to all the female associates. He'll cop a feel if your back is turned. He routinely propositions the women in the office. Plutarch's been turning a blind eye to it because it's Seneca's family that bank rolled the start-up for the firm. Two weeks ago, he took Johanna and me into the conference room."

Peeta remembered a day a couple of weeks back when a sullen Katniss had stormed into the apartment and locked herself in her room until bedtime, when she'd crawled in with him seeking comfort but still refused to explain what was wrong. He gently touched her shoulder with his hand. "Katniss, what did he do?"

Katniss bit her lip, unable to look at him. "It started out alright," she muttered. "He said something about how well we were doing, that we had lots of potential." She rolled her eyes. "He wanted to take us under his wing, be a mentor to us. Then he suggested we should spend some time together, after hours, all three of us. So that we could get to know each other better."

Peeta cursed, his body tense. If he ever saw Crane again, he'd rip him limb from limb.

"Johanna told him to go to hell. Then he said if we wanted to have a career in this business, we should remember that a black mark from Crane & Heavensbee was a death knell in Panem. I told him I'd rather collect food stamps."

Peeta grinned. That was his girl.

"Anyway," she said, brushing his hand off the lock and shoving the pin inside, "he's been breathing down our necks ever since. Nothing we do is right and he's undermining us to our own clients. Plus, he's been hinting that he's got something on us that we won't want to get out. If he does, it's in this drawer. If it's what we think it is, he'd never keep it some place that Plutarch could find it."

Katniss struggled with the lock a little more. "Damn. I can't get it. I guess I should have googled a little more."

Peeta's right eyebrow quirked upwards. "You googled lock-picking?" Katniss grinned sheepishly. "Well, I'm glad to know my best friend isn't a criminal mastermind. Now, get back."

Katniss crawled backward and watched in amazement as Peeta gripped the bottom of the drawer, unleashed all of his outrage, and with three swift yanks, ripped it open. The smaller drawer above it splintered and pens flew through the air. He shrugged. "It's a cheap desk." She continued to stare. "Don't forget I coach the wrestling team at school, Katniss."

Her eyes travelled over his broad shoulders and rippling biceps. Nope. She wasn't likely to forget that.

They looked down into the drawer and found files on every female associate in the office along with a USB stick.

Katniss ran to the door and yelled for Johanna to bring a box. Her friend appeared and Peeta, still angry, grabbed all the files in one hand and shoved them inside the banker's box. Katniss jammed the memory stick into her pocket.

"I managed to download our list of clients," Johanna told Katniss on the way out the door. She locked it behind her and threw the key down the gutter. "And all of their invoices for the last year."

Peeta gave them a puzzled look, the box still in his arms.

"We think Crane's been overbilling all of the female associate's clients," Katniss explained as they stepped onto the sidewalk. "Pocketing the cash and setting us up to take the fall." She pressed a button to pop the lid on her trunk.

"Just in case you turn him down," Peeta said, his voice tight. He dropped the box in the trunk and slammed the lid a lot harder than was necessary. "I guess there's not much chance he's going to be calling the police on us then."

"You got that right, Blondie," said Johanna gleefully as she opened the backdoor of Katniss's old Civic. "We've got about eight hours to call all of our clients before he finds out what we did and Plutarch starts to cover it up. You in?"

Peeta got into the front beside Katniss. He nodded and squeezed her hand. "I'd rather kick his ass, but something tells me this will hurt longer."


End file.
